Rodrigo Capella: Brazil Rediscovers The Power Of The Podcast

Rodrigo Capella is a Brazilian public relations professional. Lecturer and writer, edits the blog PR Interview and has more than twenty books published.

For some time, from 2005 to 2006, we had a “podcast fever” in Brazil. Several companies and geeks, most of the times without pre-defined objectives, have invested in using this technology as a way of promoting ideas and brands. Some initiatives were successful, but most of them failed.

One of the survivors of this season was the podcast of Amil, a company that sells health care plans. Pod Ter Saúde (in reference to “you can be healthy”) is a good example of how to combine brand, entertainment and information. Every week, the podcast interviews experts on different aspects of health.

A recent episode, for example, presents the study of postpartum depression. Another one tells us about the health hazards with the abrupt changes on the weather.

The persistence of companies like Amil and the improvement of technologies have encouraged enterprises to invest in podcasts. Many experts consider this new period as a great revival. Much simpler to make, the companies invest less to offer even more features for listeners.

Following Amil, the bank Itaú, one of the biggest in Brazil, has a podcast with financial guidelines. One of the episodes, for instance, talks about the importance of diversifying your investments. Another one helps you to demystify the stock market.

A page dedicated to this tool brings the schedule of the week podcasts and goes on: if you prefer, you can watch the tips in videos and submit questions (that is the most interesting part) to the podcasters.

That is a good insight! An approach that is really needed today: a total interactive program in the format that the receivers prefer and when they want to consume it.

The radio has learned very well how to do it. The podcast, for our luck, seems to follow its path.

How to comment: I have a “living room policy” for comments. Be cool and add your thoughts to the discussion as if we’re hanging out in my living room. Critical comments are welcome, but bring some positive energy to the discussion — or I won’t add your comment.

@torbjornrive

When you leave only links on ppls pages it gets marked as spam. If you add a comment then interaction is made. Right?

Thanks for commenting, but I’m not sure about what you mean. Since your post about podcasting is listed as a related article but isn’t incorporated in the text of the post, wordpress.com interpretes the link as spam, is that right?

@torbjornrive

Okay. It went straight to spam and I assumed you had posted it yourself. It shows as link only I guess that’s why.

Thanks for commenting, but I’m not sure about what you mean. Since your post about podcasting is listed as a related article but isn’t incorporated in the text of the post, wordpress.com interpretes the link as spam, is that right?

@torbjornrive

Okay. It went straight to spam and I assumed you had posted it yourself. It shows as link only I guess that’s why.